I garden because I believe growing my own food is empowering, healthy and fun. I enjoy plants for their shapes, colors and textures but I am primarily interested in growing edible plants so that I can provide fresh, healthy food for my family. I am interested in learning new ways to preserve our harvest so that we can enjoy it longer than our growing season permits. I also grow plants to feed and support our livestock, which currently consists of Nigerian dwarf dairy goats, a flock of pastured chickens and a hive of honeybees.

Our family moved to this old farmhouse eight years ago. It was first built in 1738 and was run as a dairy farm into the 1970s. The farmer retired and the farm was broken up and sold. When we moved in, the yard was mostly lawn, with a large wild area in back crowded with small trees, shrubs and tall grasses. I have been trying to turn my two acres, which contains the original farmhouse and barn, back into a small farm using sustainable agricultural practices.

I am learning as I go. I was raised in the suburbs, so farming and increased self-sufficiency are things I have been learning (often the hard way) through research, observation, experimentation and practice.

As Sir Albert Howard concluded so well over seventy years ago,

“Mother earth never attempts to farm without live stock; she always raises mixed crops; great pains are taken to preserve the soil and to prevent erosion; the mixed vegetable and animal wastes are converted into humus; there is no waste; the processes of growth and the processes of decay balance one another; ample provision is made to maintain large reserves of fertility; the greatest care is taken to store the rainfall; both plants and animals are left to protect themselves against disease.”

-- "...I have nothing against authorities as such; I am only in favor of putting a question mark after just about everything they say." Ruth Stout

In 2013, I grew Hopi Blue Dent corn. I ordered one package from a small company in Maine, Pinetree Seeds. I planted the corn in the garden area at the top of sunny southern slope, in the piece of land where my sons had grown potatoes last year. ...

I have been educating myself about breeding vegetables and saving seeds this winter. As I was reading Suzanne Ashworth’s book, Seed to Seed, I stumbled across an explanation for bitterness in cucumbers. The cucumbers I grow often taste a b...

We had a good potato harvest in 2013. Here is a photo of one-third of our total harvest:
In 2013, I ordered our Burbank Russet seed potatoes from Pinetree Seeds. We picked the Burbank Russets for several reasons:
- We enjoy their taste...

This morning I went out to check my inoculated logs and was pleased to see a fresh bloom of Shitake mushrooms. Here is my harvest:
It is difficult to tell the size from the photos but the largest ones are almost three inches across. The s...

In my previous post, I concentrated on the bright, showy fruits of summer that capture our attention with their sweetness and bright colors. Maybe even more important are the vegetables which should make up the majority of our food. So this post...

We started out boarding and raising horses but as the kids grew up they lost interest in 4H. Vicki still has her horse which she raised for a colt about 16 yrs ago. She takes dressage lessons every week. We posted more pictures to our garden. hope you enjoy.

Thank you so much for viewing and commenting about my 1st project here at GT. I have not used the pellets before and are a little concerned but I have a good feeling this year for a better container garden then my previous.

The lights in my green house were just on for taking the photos. I am using a heating mat under the trays and will not be using them till after the germination is complete and will remove them from the heating mat and place the growing lights about 1-2 inches above the new plants. This will help them stay a little shorter, sturdy, hardy and fuller plants for transplanting

Looks like you have many successful projects yourself. :-)I love flowers too. Will be sowing Morning Glory’s, Moon Flowers and Nasturtiums soon.

I will be sowing more seeds of what I lost for sure. Tomatoes are going to be very expensive this season according to the news. Bad crops due to bad weather where most tomatoes come from stores. I am very excited.

Hi Robin,thanks for the welcome.My sister raises a few dairy goats,I get milk from her whenever I can,love to play with the baby goats they are all ways so happy,want to bring them home with me but I’m not ready for them yet.
I don’t think I will plant gourds this year,have a bunch from last year drying and I need to get creative and do something with them.
I’m not to computer smart,going to take me forever to figure this blog thing out.
regards, Mark in Co

thank you Robin for the information on garlic,I will try that.Currently I’m adding chopped garlic to apple cider vineger and giving them about a tablespoon to a gallon of water a couple of times a week,but other options are great. My projects this spring are planting more herbs for them to eat,I want to try some peppermint,they love the shew mosquito geranium,have to keep a fence around it,and I planted a hobs vine by there run last fall can’t wait to see how it does,and they can eat the hops,plus it will give them some shade,allready have grapes growing around one of the chicken yards.Sorry I’m having a bit of a problem with the blog,going to have to get some one how is smarter than me on the computer to show me. Mark

Morning Robin, you are an early riser. That’s the way to learn how to garden, trial and error. After a couple of decades you start to get the hang of it. Out here in Oregon the weather this year is so fickle that what ever tricks a guy has up his sleeve needs to be pulled out. Where I am the ground is just too wet and cold to till. I’ve never seen such a wet spring. Thanks for asking about the pastel art. I’ll put some pictures up on my home page. Bet the goats get in some comical situations. They’d make a fun picture.

It’s me again , Margaret, just call me computer challenged, I can’t figure out how to tap into the pictures in my computer and put them on this site. So if you want to see them, email me at JustChalk@hotmail.com. and I can fire you off some flowers, birds, a frog and tell you more about what I do.

Thanks, Steve and Debbie. As I was changing my avatar photo for the new year, I realized that Radical Farmer Gal is an apt moniker and I ought to live up to my ideals and use it proudly. Thinking of the seeds I have purchased for next year’s garden and drinking my home-made, fermented ginger ale, that I realized that I am a bit of a radical, at least by current society’s practices. I will answer to Robin, too. : )

-- "...I have nothing against authorities as such; I am only in favor of putting a question mark after just about everything they say." Ruth Stout

I was just wondering how your shiitake are coming in?Mine had a late start this year. I just forced about 6 logs of WR46 last week and am ready to pick between 1 to 2 lbs.Here is a picture from this morning: